The dilly is definitely Piccadilly Circus in London: an area with a bad reputation for drugs and prostitution.

This on "Billy in the bowl" from a book called "Naming Names: Who, What, Where in Irish Nomenclature" by Bernard Sharpe, Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 2001.

"Billy in the bowl [nickname] C19 Dub.[lin] street character. 1913 James Collins 'Life in Old Dublin' - this character used to ply his calling between the quiet streets of Stoneybatter and the Green Lanes of Grangegorman. He was nicknamed 'Billy in the Bowl', having been introduced into the world with only a head, body and arms. When he grew up he conveyed himself along in a large bowl fortified by iron, in which he was embedded".

Tuinal is (or was--I'm not up on the latest) one of the more commonly abused barbiturates. It's a combination of amobarbital (Amytal) and secobarbital (Seconal). Some clever drug company marketing person named it Tuinal because it's two (clap) two (clap) two barbs in one!

I once got nabbed by a copper in The Dilly over a bottle of aspirin!! I was new to England at the time and didn't realise the significance of where I was... must've been acting suspicious or something. He blocked me and asked what I was going to use it for, and when I told him (truthfully) that I had a headache, this answer seemed to strike him as the most bizarre and outlandish of fictions.

Unaccustomed as I am to being arrested, I finally handed the bottle to him and told him he could have it, as long as he left me two tablets for my headache. He let me go then, though very reluctantly. There you have it, folks, My Life As A Criminal - it probably wouldn't have happened in the 'burbs.

Yes it is a drug. I was wondering the same thing. Tuinal (or Tuinol as it is sometimes colloquially misspelled) saw widespread use as a recreational drug in the 1960s and 1970s. Tuinal is the brand name of a combination drug composed of two barbiturate salts (secobarbital sodium and amobarbital sodium) in equal proportions. Tuinal was introduced as a sedative medication in the late 1940s by Eli Lilly. It was produced in gelatin capsule form for oral administration. Individual capsules contained 50mg, 100mg, or 200mg of barbiturate salts.

YES .. The blue and red capsules of Tuinal are sleeping tablets - theyare classed as CD (controled drug) and have to have a separate handwritten prescription written by Dr to be able to get the.

I am disabled and have been on them since the 1970's, because of the very much pain I suffer, I really can't can't sleep without them.

Now my Dr has informed me TUINAL is no longer being made/manufactured any (from now), he has cut my prescription off with just one days notice ... so I can no longer get any Tuinal ... how can I begin to manage with no sleep aid, Dr's said they have known for many months Tuinal is not being made any more, so WHY didn't they tell me much earlier, one day is not long enough for me to re-adjust to being without them... I'm Disgusted !! ..